


This is an end for you my friend, and also a beginning

by AyaTheFanGirl



Series: The New Family of Marcus Keane [1]
Category: The Exorcist (TV)
Genre: Demonic Possession, Family, Food, Friendship, Kidnapping, M/M, Roman Catholicism, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-07 18:49:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 13,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20980673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyaTheFanGirl/pseuds/AyaTheFanGirl
Summary: Marcus heeds God’s call to find Tomas, to find himself in the middle of a hostage situation with a familiar face and a big surprise.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reckonedrightly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reckonedrightly/gifts).
  * Inspired by [I've got my mind set on you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13404669) by [reckonedrightly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reckonedrightly/pseuds/reckonedrightly). 

> 1- this is my first story in English  
2-this my first ever fanfic  
3- the amazing reckonedrightly is the one who created the animal character you'll meet later on the story as well as Peter's entire background in the amazing fic I've got my mind set on you, go read it  
4- I wouldn't have written this without all the stories you wrote and posted here and all your encouragement on discord so thank you

Breath, just remember to breath.

  
It’s how Marcus calms his trembling body long enough to let go of the piers, and despite the partial blindness and the ringing in his ears move, talk to people to quit his job in the docks and leave, the cold of Seattle’s late winter really was surprisingly helpful. His marching orders were clear: find Tomas, save him and win the war. So he does that while breathing slowly and deeply, trying to hide the euphoria, the surge of beautiful and terrifying energy this last encounter with God left inside of him. Also trying to hide his fear and worry for his friends, the ones he abandoned six months ago out of fear, guilt and shame.

  
Gathering the few position and the little cash he had took only an hour. And then came the real moment of truth, where to start? and how to look for them? Marcus didn’t have to wonder long when the same phone he had on him when he left Tomas and Mouse rang. “I was so worried you didn’t use this Number anymore” the voice of the deacon who pointed him in Harper’s direction all those months ago was filled with urgency and fear that Marcus was surprised at how fast and sincere “are you alright?” left his mouth.

“if by any chance you’re still in Seattle, how fast can you get to the airport?” the deacon said,

“give me an hour and I’ll be there” Marcus replied, and an hour later he was following a tall dark haired man in his early thirties into a small church near the airport noticing that he was in civilian clothes and dragging around a suitcase, once they were sitting in the last pew in the church the deacon got his rosary out of his pocket which he and Marcus shared in their prayers.

  
Once that was over the deacon started talking “the integrated inside the church are no longer trying to hide from us, they told everyone they think might have a connection to you or still loyal to the cause that they have Father Ortega, the woman traveling with him and two other hostages in a house in the town of Anderson, California. They said if you made it there before midnight next Friday you will be taken to see them safely, if not they, and I quote, can’t _guarantee the safety of the four guests_ they will kill the woman and the other two hostages and turn Tomas” so many questions ran through Marcus’s head but the only one he could voice was “are you gonna be alright?”

“I’ve been getting ready for this day since I’ve heard about the attempt on his holiness’s life in Chicago, I leaving the country in three hours under a different name and profession”

“good” Marcus sighed with relief, _one less person to worry about_

“I’m sorry I can’t do more to help you Marcus, but I will be praying for you and for all the others still in the field”.

  
After Marcus said goodbye to his friend, he went to the bus station to inquire after the buses leaving Seattle to head south, he needed to get to Anderson in three days. he had a few hours to kill before the bus heading to Portland leaves, so used this time to rummage through his back bag for some semi-valuable stuff he won during pool games with other dock workers, a couple of a watches, a silver locket and a charm bracelet. He found the nearest pawn shop to get rid of the stuff and get some cash, he bought some food, water and first-aid supplies. And before he got into the bus to Portland he felt the beads of Mother Bernadette’s rosary around his neck and he silently prayed to God for guidance and strength to do what must be done, it was almost midnight when the bus moved.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which demon Bennett hopes for a captivated audience, but does he get it?

Meanwhile in a small house right outside of Anderson, Tomas was quietly reciting every prayer he knows in Spanish and Latin, he has been like that for the last two days. He is aware of everything around him, aware of Bennett who was integrated against his well during a hospital stay and now in charge of keeping them all locked up, standing there in his clerical uniform, aware of Mouse and the fact that she’s trying to figure out a way out, aware of agent Osborne who’s trying to rap his around everything he’s learned since his abduction, aware of Peter’s confused dog Addie, an adorable long black dog with strange ears. heavily sedated to assure she won’t lose her mind with a demon in the room so close to her and aware of the fourth prisoner.

  
A dark haired woman in her mid forties. Donna Powell, heiress to the Powell’s tabloid empire and granddaughter to the notorious Mathew Powell, and the mother of Marcus’s child. A child that came to be when demons stole Marcus’s semen, hoping to use the resulting child as a leverage, and when this rich woman who, thanks to her grandfather’s emotional abuse, has given up on romantic love but on motherhood, a child that Donna claims was a stillborn, Peter was here as a hostage in case that was true, grabbed during a work trip that they now know was planned by the demons, he was allowed to text his family telling them only that he’s okay.

  
“if what you say is true Miss Powell then I’m sincerely sorry for your loss” demon Bennett said prompting a snort from Mouse and a raised eyebrow from Tomas who knew that a demon’s instincts are way below sincerity, “but here is the thing” demon Bennett continued “you come from a family known for its ability to gather and falsify information, it’s also known for a tradition of waiting a month before getting a birth certificate for a new born out of some an old superstition”, Bennett too, the real one, was good at gathering intel and the thing inside of him used this ability masterfully, “not to mention that a woman with your resources and love for children would’ve tried again at some point”, that last statement felt like a thunder strike for Tomas, the real Bennett knew all too well the pain of losing someone and that a mother’s pain at losing a child is the worst. He would’ve never spoken this way to a mother about replacing one baby with another.

  
“you know, now I truly believe that you are a demon” said Donna “because even psychopaths who are humans know how to pretend that they care. they would never talk about a baby’s death that nonchalantly, so fuck you” Donna being raised by a man who opted to make her afraid of the idea of falling in love or even having friends, Donna knew psychopaths all too well “also if my baby was alive wouldn’t you think I’d be parading the would be 15-year-old proudly in every fundraiser, gala and community event I attended? wouldn’t I be posting about the child’s life and school on social media all day long like all those stupid parents do in this day and age?”

  
“but you are not just any other parent my dear” demon Bennett started “you are a Powell and you are capable of doing anything for what matters to you” pausing theatrically to make sure that he’s well heard by everyone “for your grandfather that was control over what draws people’s attention, for you that would be your child, _if you had one_”.

Seeing that Donna’s face went blank as she said “fuck you” again and then closed her mouth, Peter was engaging in some sort of breathing exercise to stay calm, Mouse was studying the room they were kept in and Tomas was still mumbling his prayers, demon Bennett started to get angry and knowing that killing one of the hostages now would complicate their plans he left the room slapping the door furiously behind him.

  
And from a circle of trees outside the house, someone was watching the two story building, “yes Mr. Sherman” the watcher said in his hearing device “I understand sir, we’re waiting for your man and your signal”.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Marcus realizes he has an ally with a plan

Marcus got off the bus in Portland at the afternoon next day and was just making his way to the information desk to ask about buses headed for California when he felt he was being watched, after a few minutes of carefully and coyly observing his surroundings Marcus realized that his instincts were correct. His shadow was a middle-aged man with gray hair, clean shaved face and a well built figure who was dressed like a senior partner at high end, criminal defending law firm, but while the watcher may or may not be a lawyer, he is definitely ex-military.

  
Marcus had no patience for games that day, so he just walked to the bench where the man was sitting and sat next to him “I thought that I was gonna get grabbed after I got to Anderson, and by someone… different” said Marcus visibly frustratingly

”I’m not one of the kidnappers Mr Keane” said the stranger “I’m the hostage negotiator”

“and who’s paying for your services? if you don’t mind me asking” said Marcus skeptically after taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself

“I don’t mind you asking Mr keane” said the stranger “but I think we should take this conversation somewhere more private, and please put in mind that if I mean to kill you, I would’ve already tried” Marcus saw the logic in that and agreed.

  
After a fifteen minutes drive Marcus and the man who introduced himself as Noah Sherman arrived at the safe house the latter man had in town. It was a cozy little house where Marcus could “experience every bit of comfort you could have before all hell breaks loose” as the man who introduced himself as Noah Sherman stated, but Marcus wasn’t interested in comforts, not yet anyway, “my need for answers and help, if you're truly here to help me, is bigger than my need for a power nap” Marcus replied

“very well then” said Sherman gesturing to the comfiest chair in the room “but first please sit down” Marcus obeyed while sighing frustratingly “and please don’t ask me questions before I’m done”

“just fucking talk already” Marcus snapped at his host who raised his hands in a calming gesture and started talking “you might remember that 16 years ago after finishing a job in a town in Orange county, California you, with orders from someone in the Diocese, were taken to a local medical practice to treat your injuries”

“I remember” Marcus said assertively _I never forget being forced to see a doctor_

“you were heavily sedated for someone with minor injuries and that situation was used by a local member of the Frairs of Ascension who hopped that the favor will make his next Vocare Pulvare ceremony his lucky one”

“and what is that favor exactly?” asked Marcus while noticing how well informed the other man is

“collecting your genetic material” Sherman said as if he’s treading on eggshells

“as in my sperm?” Marcus said as if he’s trying to process.

  
“yes” said the other man “the idea was to create a leverage to force you to join them, they took it from you put it in a semen bank, waited for an unlucky woman to pick it up and hoped that they can get to the resulting child, and make you choose between joining and the child’s life” Marcus reclined in the chair and put his hand on him mouth as if trying to keep himself from screaming

“keep going” said Marcus after a few deep breaths and a glass of water later.

  
“your sperm was picked by my client Miss Donna Powell, a wealthy heiress to a news empire who, due to her grandfather’s emotional abuse, has given up on romance but on not on motherhood” Sherman started again “she is a good woman and she is also very resourceful”

“and the child?” Marcus interrupted

“she’s safe” Sherman answered “the Powells had a long tradition of getting the birth certificate for a baby a month after the birth, Miss Powell learned about you and this whole mess before then, she started a rumor that the baby was a stillborn and give young miss Talia her great-grandmother’s maiden name Holt”.

  
“I take it you’re here because they have miss Powell too” said Marcus and Sherman nodded for a reply, so Marcus kept asking “do the demons who have my friends and your client believe the rumor?”

“no, but they got ready for in case it was true” answered Sherman

“what do you mean?” asked Marcus worryingly

“they took your friends Father Ortega and Mouse because you know them professionally and care about them, but the demons wanted someone you had any kind of personal connection with, so they also kidnapped the fish and wildlife agent you acquainted yourself with during your last job”

“_fuck, just great, another life ruined because of me_” Marcus thought.

“when I said I was the hostage negotiator, I was just trying to introduce myself in a way that made sense, I’m actually Donna Powell’s head of security” said Sherman assuredly “and I have your daughter protected Mr Keane, my people are watching that house in Anderson, your bus ticket is ready and you won’t be out of my people’s sight for a second. if you take a few hours to rest, we can concoct a plan together and save everyone in that house”

“fine but first” Marcus said digging though his stuff “there’s something you need to do” Marcus found the bottle of holy water that the deacon left with him as a parting gift and pour some of its contents in a glass handing it to Sherman who drank it understanding that it’s a security measure.

  
“what does my daughter know?” Marcus asked with concern and dread in his voice

“that her father, a devout Catholic and a good priest made it his mission to fight corruption within the church,” Sherman replied “this was the only altered piece of information that she was given in the story after she found some documents concerning you in Miss Powell’s study last year”

_clever girl_ Marcus thought with both pride and concern, “she’s being raised a Catholic,” Sherman said “miss Powell heard about all the sacrifices you made in your life so despite being an agnostic, she raised young Talia a Catholic in you honor” Marcus also learns that his daughter lives with her mother’s relative who’s last name is also Holt in a small town near Anderson, in the eyes of the community this relative and his wife are Talia’s parents, every Friday they pick her up from school, take her to her mom’s safe house near the town, go to a couple’s resort paid by Donna and come back to pick her up for school early Monday morning, Donna visits Talia during week days but as far as the neighbors know, she’s a relative from out of town, longer vacations are planned out just as thoroughly with Talia's safety in mind.  
Marcus listened with great interest to Sherman’s account of his daughter and then went to bed, A few hours of sleep, a meal and a long conversation about the plan later and Marcus was on a bus to Anderson early next morning.


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the hostages get rescued

Marcus’s first meeting with Bennett in a year wasn’t happy reunion for more than one reason:

1) the later was integrated

2) even if he wasn’t, it’s Bennett we’re talking about here.

Marcus gets driven to the house by a man, not possessed, who looks like a celebrity bodyguard, once he’s there he’s shown into the room where hostages are kept tied up to their chairs and an animal hostage is asleep and on a leash that’s tied to an iron ring in the wall, they were in the basement of that large house which, fortunately for the hostages was only a flight of stairs away from the guest bathroom, Bennett and the four guards who watched them had plenty of room to rest, eat and do whatever while fulfilling their duties.

  
Marcus pretended the best he could look that he surprised at all this, and to seam shocked at the flood of information that demon Bennett spat in his face while listening to the voices outside of the room, waiting for the signal.

“do you hear me gray lion?” demon Bennett spat at pretend-to-be-shocked Marcus “our brethren up in Seattle felt it the second your fucking god spoke to you, and the next second we all knew, our bond is getting stronger. I can destroy everything that matters to each of your little friends, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” pause “unless” another pause “you try to fix the damage you’ve inflicted on us during your forty two years of service.”.

  
Demon Bennett took his rule as a villain way too seriously, almost as seriously as the real Bennett took church politics. “and how the hell am I supposed to do that?” Marcus channeled his desperation to save his friends both old and new so impressively, he could’ve napped an award for his performance.

“in a room above us there’s an urn of ashes, you walk in with me, I say the words and you accept the fallen angel that will come to you”

“no, Marcus don’t do it” Tomas said desperately when the whole thing was interrupted by a knock on the door.

  
“WHAT” screamed demon Bennett, the door opened and the guy who brought in Marcus came and said “I’m sorry sir, but it looks like there’s a gas leak in the house”

“and?” demon Bennett asked annoyingly “the gas company has sensors that detect leakage in every house and they sent people once those sensors report it, they are outside the gates of the house and they insist to evacuate the place and investigate the leakage”

“STOP” demon Bennett screamed again “carry that fucking dog to the backyard then gag the prisoners, take them out the back quietly and make sure that the gas company people don’t look through the fucking windows leading to the back yard while in the house”.

And that was the signal Marcus was waiting for, three more celebrity bodyguard types came into the room, one carried Peter’s poor traumatized dog out and the other went to Tomas untied him for the chair, tied his hands from behind, gagged him and took him outside, after doing that with all others including Marcus, demon Bennett removed and hidden his collar, grabbed the house keys and while walking to the front gate he told one of the guards “cut the electricity at my signal from the fence till those nuisances walk in and then turn it on while their doing their jobs”

“copy that” was the reply.

  
The three guards who escorted Marcus and the hostages to the backyard of the house made all five people kneel on the ground with their facing the house with guns pointed to their heads.

Meanwhile in the front yard of the house, the first guard marched to the where the distribution board was hidden and Bennett marched to the gate. "apologies everyone,” putting as much charm and fake sincerity as possible in his words “the owner of the house is very adamant when it comes security” gesturing to guard standing by the house

“we understand” one of the two people in gas company uniform replied watching Bennett open the gate “it won’t take long, we promise” and he went with Bennett while his colleague slowly moved towards the guard noticing that the latter was busy watching Bennett.

  
In the few minutes the power was cut from the fence four more men quietly and quickly climbed the fence to the backyard, listening to their colleagues through their hearing devices, and noiselessly approached the three guards from behind. It was all done very fast, the drug that was used to subdue Bennett and the four guards was fast and effective, only one of the three in the backyard had time to react but even he was held down till he lost consciousness, demon Bennett was out of it before he knew what hit him, it didn’t have a chance to contact its brethren, which was the rescue mission’s second most important objective.

  
When all was said and done, rather done than said because nobody was in the mood to talk, three cars were waiting for them: one took the guards to a house similar the one they used to hold their hostages, but bigger to make sure their isolated form one another, for interrogation, one that took Bennett to a special place where he would be safe till they figure out how to exorcise him, and the third is taking the now rescued hostages to Donna’s largest and biggest safe house, the one where her daughter is, the one where Marcus’s daughter is.


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Marcus has the most exciting and dreaded meeting in his life. yes everyone, it’s time to meet the one only Talia Holt.

“mom, I came from school to find that Noah had a ton of extra food, clothes, meds and dog food sent here and told me to wait for you, what just happened?” is what the five very exhausted people and the confused dog were greeted with in the safe house, or rather safe complex a few miles south the town of Cottonwood which wasn’t that far away from Anderson.

  
A healthy looking, dark haired, blue eyed, as in Marcus Keane blue, teenage girl appeared in the hall, “what just happened?” she looked at everyone with a mix of panic and concern.

“Talia,” Donna interrupted her daughter calmly gesturing at Marcus “this Marcus Keane,your father and those are his friends”

“oh” said Talia turning her attention to Marcus “hi, it’s very good finally meet you” excitement and disbelief were obvious in her tune, since she never thought she’d be able to meet her father.

  
“it’s very good to finally meet you too, Talia” replied Marcus awkwardly, his face mirroring Talia’s excitement and disbelief, it also showed affection and fear. Talia noticed that and while she wanted to explore her long lost father’s emotions she also noticed that he and his friends and the dog they had with them were dead on their feet

“okay” said Talia looking at her watch “5:30 is usually too early to have dinner and call it a night but I think that you guys should do just that”, their injuries were minor that the first aid supplies that Marcus bought were enough to deal with them before they left that house, but they were all tired.

  
Explaining the accommodations quickly to them “the second floor has 10 rooms each with its own bathroom, mine and mom’s bedrooms have our names put on the doors, oh, and Noah sent four bags of clothes, they have names on them” the five people proceeded to clean up, using the nice double head showers, three of them are just grateful that for once they don’t have to share a bathroom or wait for their turn, and change to clothes that made them feel a little more human, Sherman really did good picking clothes their sizes. meanwhile Talia was platting the mac and cheese that their cook Rani made before leaving for the day, dinner was eaten quietly and then everyone retreated to their rooms at seven, after all they’ve gone through over the last few days, none of them found it hard to fall asleep.

  
In the next morning Talia woke up at six and went directly to the kitchen, where she helped the grounds keeper Manny place the meat and dairy products that were just delivered to the house were they belong, and then wondered what to make for breakfast when she heard a noise coming from the hallway outside the kitchen. she went to check it out and lo and behold, Marcus in nice, well fitting flannel pajamas was there opening every door, touching every wall and checking on every thing, _compulsively tactile and restless_ thought Talia n_ow I know where I got that from_.

  
“oh, good morning love” said Marcus when he noticed here smiling and lighting up like a Christmas tree

“good morning,” said Talia who was obviously pleased with her father’s reaction to her “I’m about to start breakfast. Come and help me?” Marcus nodded and followed her to the kitchen

“so a quick question before we start” Talia said while opening the fridge “exactly how English are you? Cause we have the ingredients for the full English” _I like you already but you look like a starving cat_ Talia observed quietly hoping she can do something about that

“well, when you put it that way” reaching for the fresh eggs.

  
“so” said Talia helping Marcus get the ingerdients “tell me about those friends of yours” starting an interrogation of Marcus while cooking an extravagant fry-up, good thing non of the guests have any food allergies, she was in the middle of a question about northern soul forty minutes later when Peter and Addie walked in

“good morning” Peter said seaming better and more relaxed than yesterday

“hi” Talia replied excitedly while playing with Addie’s ears, the dog too seamed better after snuggling with her dad all night in bed and being away from any demons.

  
“we need to talk” Peter said to Marcus both assertively and gently “after breakfast of course”, Marcus had admitted to Talia a few minutes ago that he’s not very good at expressing his emotions, especially good emotions like the ones Peter and his presence make him feel, he also told her he hasn’t seen Mouse and Father Tomas in six months, she knew, or at least guessed that her mother told them the story she told Talia which included either an omission or a lie

“guys, just for future reference” said Talia while her mom, Tomas and Mouse joined their party having picked the smell of the food “if you want me to leave the room just ask nicely, because otherwise I’m gonna find out what you want to keep from me” Donna face balmed and sighed loudly while Mouse raised her eyebrow, looked at Marcus and said “definitely your kid” everyone chuckled.


	6. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there are some conversations to be had

Breakfast was a much more joyful affair than last night’s dinner, the food that Marcus and Talia cooked was great and there was plenty of it, Talia made sure she engaged everyone in a conversation about everything and nothing. The mood of Peter’s dog also seamed to improve mirroring that of Peter himself whom Talia seams to share a love for animals with, they also discovered that she shared a love for poetry with Tomas and for martial arts with Mouse.

  
By 8:30 the food was eaten, the dishes were cleaned and the kitchen was tidied up, After Peter texted his daughter to tell her he's fine without lying for the first time in almost a week, Peter and Marcus walked together to the garden followed by Addie, while Talia dragged Tomas and Mouse to her room to show them her collection of poetry books and Donna went to her study to prepare for the inevitable conversation with the exorcists.

  
The garden of Donna’s safe house was huge and it provided the house’s needs for vegetables, fruits, eggs and flowers, and what was late winter in Seattle, was actually spring her. Marcus enjoyed the view and the sun as much as he could and as a way to relax. After ten minutes of walking in silence Peter stopped and turned to face Marcus, Addie still wary of people after her ordeal also stopped and sat where she was “how bad would it’ve been if you stayed with me after you left you friends?” Peter asked leaving Marcus confused to the point of being unable to put a sentence together “.. I .. uh” he was not expecting what he saw in Peter’s eyes, Peter wasn’t angry, he didn’t blame Marcus for what happened to him, he was concerned and frustrated in away that a mom gets concerned and frustrated by her child who plays too much video games.

  
_I don’t deserve you_, Marcus thought _I am not worthy of the tenderness and care I see in your eyes_. noticing Marcus’s train of thought all over his face, Peter took a deep breath and interrupted it saying “when I was in the army and still married to Mia, I was very fucked up, I was led to believe that being gay was a weakness, that being gentle and kind were weaknesses, I fucked up not only my life but Mia’s and our daughter’s too” he paused and took another breath “comparing what happened with me to what I heard your friend Bennett drone about for hours about your life would be unfair, my point is: I know it’s not easy, changing the way you perceive yourself, leaving a comfort zone no matter how uncomfortable and right down dangerous it is, it’s really difficult”.

  
Marcus’s confusion has been slowly replaced with shock and awe, in the one time Marcus and Peter had a personal moment on Peter’s boat, it was all about Marcus, these revelations about Peter’s life and his willingness to share them have shaken Marcus to his core. He was on the verge of tears when he finally said “do you truly believe that a man like me can learn what you have learned? Do you think that I can learn to be_ normal_?”

“you’re alive, aren’t you?” Peter said seriously but with a hint of humor, seeing the want in Marcus’s eyes, Peter approached him carefully as if testing the water first, Marcus replied by getting closer and gently placing his hand on the nape of Peter’s neck cupping it and finally they kiss again, it was just as sweet as they both remembered but this time it wasn’t desperate. an agreement started to form between them, they will take their time exploring this thing between them, now that he knows what’s happening, Peter will not be left out and will help as much as he can, Marcus found himself agreeing. somehow Peter, both commanding and gentle, had unlocked something inside of him, a box where he has hidden his desire to be loved and wanted and cared for and before all that his belief that he deserves all of it, Peter opened this box and now Marcus is trying to look inside it without drowning in its contents.

  
Marcus, Peter and Addie walked back in about half an hour later to be met by an eager Talia, who wanted to talk to Peter about her career options as an animal lover, leaving Tomas and Mouse to have their conversation with her father in one of the house’s over sized living rooms. Again Mouse didn’t miss the purpose of Talia’s behavior “your daughter is crazy” Mouse said to Marcus “in the best way possible”

Marcus smiled with earnest pride and then returned back to reality, he sat down on a chair opposite the couch Tomas and Mouse were sitting on “I’ve been thinking” said Marcus “I shouldn’t have left after what happened with Andy, it was a very bad decision and I’m sorry for the pain that it’d caused you both”.

  
Andrew Kim was still a sore spot for both Marcus and Tomas, “I was mad at you for a while after you left” the latter said sadly but calmly “I hoped that you would come back, but after some thinking I realized that forcing you to stay wasn’t gonna do you, me or the possessed any good, so it’s okay, also it seams that whatever you did during the hiatus has helped rebuild your connection with God, which is good and important, since we need His guidance now more than ever” Mouse silently nodded her agreement

“thank you for understanding” Marcus said sincerely.

  
“I want to know how you two were taken” said Marcus after a minute of silence “I also wanna know how the demons grabbed Peter and Donna and I wanna get caught up on everything you know” both Mouse and Tomas nodded and then Mouse said “Donna wants us all to meet in her study by 10 to do exactly that, her family’s connections and media empire left her of a great deal of personal information about the integrated and the rich wannabes, details that might prove useful in this fucking war”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomas and Marcus will have a more personal moment later in the story, I promise.


	7. 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what does Donna know about the war?

Peter and the three exorcists walked into Donna’s office, around the time Rani the cook walked through the front door to make lunch and dinner, and the cleaning crew came in for the weekly cleaning duties, they were told to do Donna’s study after their lunch break, Donna Made sure that their working conditions were as good as possible and that they were paid better than they would be anywhere else, guaranteeing their dedication and discretion. Meanwhile Talia, being the only person Addie opened up to after the ordeal, took the dog out for a game of catch. After taking their places on five comfortable unmatched armchairs that were taken from the three different living rooms in the house and arranged in a circle around a coffee table that had a large plate of freshly picked fruits, a large thermos filled with freshly brewed coffee, cups and small plates. Donna really wanted every one to bay attention and everybody was thankful and repaid her kindness by being attentive using that coffee and fruits fidgeting toys but not as a distraction.

  
“we had our first piece of intel from Bennett in months” Mouse said and Tomas continued “before that we were relying on local news, online chatter and sometimes my visions which I’ve been more careful utilizing, investigating the place it led us to thoroughly before going in” Bennett’s disappearance from the hospital six months ago was abrupt and confusing, and he explained it away to Mouse and Tomas over the phone, when he led them to Anderson less than a week ago, where his men grabbed them. “Bennett was supposed to convince his holiness to shut down the office of exorcism, the demons relied on him for that” Mouse continued “it was soon clear to them that such a shift in opinions would raise suspicions, they needed the man who saved the pope’s life right after his excommunication, and who got rewarded by being accused of it” the pope was unaware of much of what was going on in the Vatican, but he was not a stupid man, he knew what really happened during the Chicago parade.

  
“it clearly took them a lot of time and effort to track down everyone you might care about to take them as hostages, and everyone who might still be able to contact you to send you a massage, Marcus” Donna said before telling the others how a supposed one week ladies only fun trip with a bunch of other rich women “and yes I knew that some of them were members of the friars of ascension” when only those who were members showed up and the next thing Donna knew was being in that Anderson house “one of them told me ‘if we really gave you a child from Marcus Keane then you’re welcome' and I replied ‘this isn’t an episode of the handmaid’s tale asshole’ I think she wanted to punch me right there” that story manged to get a laugh out of everyone and ease the tension a bit.

  
Peter, who was the only one in the room who wasn’t directly involved in this war when he was abducted, was clearly here for Marcus now, the demon in Andy managed to tell some of its brethren about what it saw in Marcus’s mind about Andy’s good neighbor Peter, they didn’t know whether Marcus went to Peter after he left Tomas and Mouse or not, it was worth the try as far as they cared, “my supervisor told me I was needed for a week in a smaller field office in the south, it was a two hour drive from the outskirts of Seattle, it was chance to take Addie with me instead of putting her in a shelter, or finding a friend to look after her, when I arrived to the place I was supposed to call home for the week there was a thermos of coffee and a plate of dog treats waiting for me, Addie and I dug in and by my third sip of coffee I was out” Peter said “when I woke up in that house those fuckers ordered me reply to my daughter’s texts without divulging anything, supernatural warfare isn’t really my area of expertise so I did what they asked and decided to not play the hero, till someone who knows what to do suggested something”.

  
Now everything about the abduction, its reasons and the days leading up to it were out of the way, Donna cleared her throat as if preparing for a speech. she stood up, went to her, not so large, wooden desk, opened one of its drawers and got something out of it. It was a small wooden box which she opened and brought to show to the exorcists, it contained a silver pendant with a strange symbol on it, “you were wearing this when we were in that house” said Mouse

“I never leave home or meet strangers without it,” Donna replied affirmatively “I found the design on it in an old book about demonology that I bought through an associate, using information provided by the only Catholic priest, who knew who Talia’s father was, I managed to collect five rare volumes that contains real, mostly forgotten, knowledge on the subject that way, this priest tells me the name of the book, I use my connections to find it, then send someone who’s never been to an auction house and will never be in one again to pick it up”.

  
After taking a breath to steady herself Donna continued noticing that everybody’s eyes were on her expecting her to keep talking “the design on that pendant is a protection symbol, if it’s in the same room with a demon, the demon won’t be able read anybody’s minds” at this point the three exorcists were truly flabbergasted.

Mouse, ever the practical one, snapped out of it first “are these books here in this house?” Mouse asked

“yes” answered Donna while rising again and opening a hidden door in the walls of her office to reveal a hidden book shelf with five large, old books on it “they’re here, but before you start going through them, just know that the priest I told you about has already read four of these five volumes, he told me that aside from some things like this protection symbol, the knowledge they contained were things that every exorcist knew, the fifth is talking about historical cases in which demons gained the ability to communicate with each other”

“just like what’s happening now!!” said Marcus clearly surprised

“yes,” answered Donna grabbing the fifth volume and placing it on her desk “it also talks about people with father Tomas’s ability and a way to use the demons’ bond to end them all, we were about to get into that, when I was taken and the priest went into hiding, now when I think about it, I don’t know what I or he would’ve been able to do with this knowledge, father Liam is a good man, a very good researcher too, but he’s no exorcist. but you guys can, you have the knowledge, the skill and the connections to make this useful and I can provide resources and security, father Liam can continue to do research from the safety of his hiding”.

  
“sounds like a solid foundation for a plan” said Tomas who wanted so desperately for this war to end, seeing the way Talia was acting around Marcus and seeing how Marcus reacted to the family he didn’t know he had, reminded Tomas of his own family, he wanted Luis to grow up in a safe world, he wanted Olivia to be able to have a happy life and yes, he wanted to go back to them and to be with them, he made peace with the fact that he might never be able to, but he still hoped, that moment Noah Sherman Called with some good news, the four guards from the house in Anderson are just mercenaries with no loyalty to the demons, and are welling cooperate for the right sum of money, which meant a lot of useful information, and father Bennett is still the same.

  
“it’s time for launch you guys” Talia screamed from somewhere in the house “if you don’t get to dining room now, Addie and I’ll eat everything” everybody laughed and Marcus and Donna gave each other knowing looks

“go” said Donna “I’ll tidy up and follow you”

“I’ll help you” said Marcus immediately “I insist” Donna shrugged her approval. once Tomas, Mouse and Peter left the study Marcus said while helping Donna putting every thing in place “you really did good with Talia, she’s amazing and I know that raising a child in normal circumstances isn’t as easy as people make it out to be, you did your best in a very difficult situation and it shows, and you should know that from now on, Talia's safety and happiness will always be on my mind during this war”

“I really appreciate you saying that, Marcus” replied Donna “it means a lot to me”.


	8. 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talia’s not gonna waste a moment she has with her father

“so he tells me, ’I only read Jane Austin when a teacher forces me to, her works are not for men’, can you believe that? How condescending a high school sophomore can be?” Talia continued to tell a story about a classmate who tried to ask her out, while digging into her Cobb salad to a captivated audience

“please, tell me you told him to bugger off” said Mouse

“of course I did” Talia replied “people have a right to like or dislike Jane Austin’s work, but if you tell me that reading her is a gender thing, then chances are you’re not gonna even be able to sit next to me with a grown up between up during movie night”

“that’s my girl” Marcus said proudly, Talia was again very pleased with his reaction to her, she was happy they were connecting.

  
After they finished lunch, she took her mom to the tv room to ask her for something, “I want take the next week off from school and stay here” Talia said seriously

“what?” Donna was shocked and confused at daughter’s request, since Talia was a hard working student.

Talia didn’t leave her mother confused for long “hear me out, my grades this semester are good, I only have one paper due this week and Mrs King likes me so much, she will allow me to email it to her as a PDF file, I have no planned exams this week and I can afford to miss a bob quiz, if one happens and more importantly, he’s here mom, and I have no idea how long he’s gonna stay, so I don’t want to wast a minute” Donna understood, so she called the Holts to give Talia an excuse from school this week, “she’s visiting family down in LA” is the official story.

  
Talia left the tv room and went to look for Marcus, she found him in Donna’s office, scouring through her books for something interesting to read, “hey,” Talia said _still not sure what call him yet_

“hey,” Marcus replied and again lighting up at the sight of Talia

“you wanna come see the books in my room?” asked Talia “they’re organized by genre, so you’re much more likely to find something you wanna read” the offer also meant she can finally get Marcus really to herself, to learn more about him, besides the real purpose of Donna’s office is hiding things related to him and his job, so she didn’t put much thought into details such as organizing the books, so Marcus accepted the offer and followed his daughter to her room upstairs, he left the door or the room open while walking in.

  
Talia’s room was like all other rooms in the house, large and well furnished it was painted a light pleasant shade of blue, that brought to his mind certain aspects of the beatific vision and his encounters with the Almighty, it had a comfortable queen sized bed that Talia always made up every morning and was now sitting on cross legged, a desk positioned to make sure that the person sitting there enjoys the view through the window, a large, well stocked and organized bookshelf, an arm chair and small table, that had two book which can only be Talia’s current reads, in front of it right next to book shelf making a perfect little reading nook, the room also contained an icon of the virgin Mary that hung up on one wall and a poster of some sort of fantasy realm map hung on another.

  
“you really like touching everything in the room you’re in, don’t you?” Talia thought loudly while watching Marcus’s hand outlining her desk,

“what?” Marcus asked confusingly

“it’s okay,” Talia replied “I’m compulsively tactile too”

Marcus thought about it for a minute “I haven’t noticed that till now” he said

“so, other than reading and listening to old music,” Talia said coming back to reality “what else do you like to do?”,

Marcus has moved to the bookshelf to look through its contents said “I like to draw sometimes”

“really?” Talia asked “what did you draw? would you show me?”

Marcus said while still looking through the books “they were charcoal drawings of natural sights that I’ve seen in my travels, I had to leave the ones I’m proud of behind before I came here” what he meant is that he’s unwilling to show his daughter his creepy, defaced bible.

  
But Talia wasn’t ready to give up yet “I can have Rani buy some sketchbooks and charcoal pencils on her way in tomorrow, and you can try to find inspiration here” Marcus thought it was a good idea, he also found that Talia’s bookshelf was indeed better organized than Donna’s, he asked Talia’s permission to borrow her hardcover copy of Fahrenheit 45,1 promising that he won’t damage it, Marcus has already read that book a couple of times and was surprised to learn that Talia read it four times.

  
“all those bans of children’s books from school libraries and YA books from high school libraries” Talia said when Marcus asked about he fascination with this specific dystopia “they’re not about protecting us from bad things, they’re about protecting us from emotions and self reflection, Ray Bradbury just imagined the worst possible version of that and put it on paper, what?”

Marcus was looking at her like he’d just found a treasure “nothing” he replied “I just missed so much of your life”.

  
“I would like to give you something” said Marcus hesitantly sitting on the edge of Talia’s bed while reaching around his neck to remove the rosary placing it reverently in Talia’s hand, who took it and examined it in her hands curiously, “it was given to me by a friend, a mother superior who was one of the kindest, strongest and most terrifying people I’ve ever known in my life, I met her two years ago, she helped me greatly, she died shortly after that” Marcus was emotionally distressed by the memory and Talia could see it, she could also see that her father truly loved and respected this mother superior, the way she loves her own mother

she looked at Marcus and said “are you sure you want to give me this? I can see it means a lot to you”

“and that’s why I want you to have it” Marcus replied with all the honesty in his heart, then Talia did the thing she wanted to do since she’d seen Marcus for the first time, but wanted wait till he’s ready, she hugged him, embraced him gently enough to make his heart melt and tightly enough that the would know he’s never alone and long enough, that Marcus swears he was never held that long by anything more solid than the grace of God.

  
The meatloaf that Rani made for dinner tonight was the best any of them tasted in their lives, Talia remembered to tell Rani about Marcus’s art supplies before she left. Once dinner was done and the dishwasher was loaded everybody went to the tv room, where Talia put Guardians of The Galaxy on, those who didn’t know much about this particular movie franchise were old enough to appreciate Starlord’s taste in music and even sing along to some of his songs. Talia sat next to Marcus leaning on him throughout the movie, the night was perfect till Marcus knew that Talia is ditching school for him, but she didn’t let him use it as an excuse for self loathing for long, the second he had that guilty look on his face, she went off like a bomb “okay listen to me very carefully now, I decided this for reasons that are about me, beside I’m the best student in Cottonwood’s only high school now, and I will continue to be, I will not allow a short vacation to get in the way of that, so stop what your doing right now” and Marcus was left speechless looking at his daughter, yet again, like he’d found a treasure.

  
This night Marcus spent the night in Peter’s bed with Addie sleeping on a dog bed on the floor, nothing happened beyond kissing and spooning but that night Marcus slept better than he ever had in his life.


	9. 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which everybody discuss their plans while a bigger and more important plan reveals itself to the exorcists

Over the following the week everybody’s plans for the future were discussed, “I want to introduce Marcus to my daughter Helen, when she comes from Australia in the summer” said Peter, whose courtship with Marcus was now public knowledge to everyone in the house.

“I too want to introduce my daughter to someone special” said Donna “when his circumstances and mine are better”

Talia’s answer to that was sighing “finally” half joking half serious, Talia was concerned for her mother’s emotional health, and was aware of her emotional issues, and the possibility of Donna being in a relationship was a relief.

  
Marcus’s plan aligned with Peter’s, but they included finishing his mission and finding a job, and again Talia’s got this covered “you are an artist, who also knows half a dozen languages and a couple of dead ones dad” Marcus was officially dad now “you’re gonna be fine, we’ll figure out something for you to do, just finish this thing and come home alive” she was impossibly blunt sometimes.  
Tomas wanted to spend the next holiday season with his family, and Mouse planned to rediscover the world, traveling it with no one tailing her, Talia wanted to be a vet, she wants to run a mobile animal clinic, “my backup plan is a restaurant called ‘unless you have Coeliac, you ain’t eating gluten free food’” everybody laughed at that, California was the land of health fads that were mostly myths, a place like that would definitely draw attention.

  
But the biggest plan by far, was the one slowly coming together as the exorcists learned more from Donna’s books and their former captors, who were now singing like birds to Sherman and his men. The book that the exorcists were reading now was written by a German monk and historian six hundred years ago, the demonic infestation in the villages and towns near his monastery wasn’t as bad as what’s happening now, but it was bad enough to warrant divine intervention.

  
Multiple priests and nuns developed the ability to fight the demons from within, after one of them was killed exposing the demons’ ability to communicate, they went to that monk and he searched his scrolls until he found a way, a ceremony called the catalysts of heaven. In this ceremony they somehow gather at least three of the elder demons in the infestation in a room, better if one of them was one of the demons who started it, and a room as close to it as possible (preferably next, above or below it) bring at least two of the exorcists who can fight them from the inside as catalysts, the more the better and it’s better if they have the protection symbol that Donna was using with them, and as many traditional exorcists as they can manage, the exorcists will start chanting the rite of exorcism while the catalysts use their ability and the bond between the demons to exorcise all of them, this ceremony was itself safe for the catalysts and the exorcists but the possibility of getting discovered before the job is done is where the real danger lies.

  
“if this is true” Marcus said looking at Tomas “then there’s a chance there are others like you”

“if there are” Tomas replied “then they’re better at hiding than me” that was enough to send them on searching frenzy, Marcus and Mouse talked to every contact they still knew to trust, asking about people like Tomas, they even ventured out of the safe house a few times to meet those people, that was a wise decision, because it gave Marcus and Mouse a chance to introduce their old colleagues to the forgotten methods of protection, which gained them back their reputation and some useful information, even a couple of one-on-ones with other catalysts, those meetings happened during their second and third week in their fancy hideout, when Talia went back to school and returned only on weekends as usual, and Peter despite the security concerns went back to Seattle with a promise to come to Cottonwood in two weeks time “beside,” Peter said seriously “if my smug supervisor is a part of this I wanna know how, if he or whoever planned what happened to me tried anything again, Sherman already has the surveillance fottage of my abduction, and can use that to make some noise, I’ll be calling you every single night to get updated on all this, I’m not getting left out” then continuing jokingly “and I think that distance will finally melt down that last barrier” Peter managed to push through Marcus’s overthinking and physical shyness to do much of what he can do with his hands and mouth, helping Marcus explore and learn what he likes, but he wouldn’t let the limited time be an excuse to push too far.

  
Now the exorcists knew what to do, the problem was how to get at least three of the oldest bastards in one room and get a bunch of exorcists to a room next, above or below it safely. The answer came as one of demon Bennett’s super villain speeches which have been getting more elaborate by the day, and while they were mostly nonsense that’s meant to intimidate the ignorant and weak of mind and annoy everyone else, some important information slipped through them like smaller fish through a net, and that made it easier for Sherman’s men to seek the important information from the four guards who, it turns out, where passed out from one demon to another for the same amount of money before landing with “the equally demanding, stingy and short fused” Bennett as one of the guards described him.

  
At some point in the beginning of the third week demon Bennett spat out something along the line of “the conclave will assemble, and the wrath of the morning star will be released upon this fucking filthy world” asking around about a gathering of some kind, excluding secret meetings in the woods, putting in mind the demon’s tendency to hide in plain sight Donna and her head of security may have found something that will make the catalysts of heaven possible.


	10. 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tomas has a crisis and Marcus wants to help

Tomas was not okay, Marcus noticed that, Donna despite knowing Tomas for only a few weeks noticed that, Talia didn’t notice that, because he becomes himself when she’s around. When Marcus asked Mouse she just said “he’s your friend, talk to him”

_that makes sense thank you for nothing Mouse_ Marcus thought sarcastically. He knew he needed to talk to Tomas and he wanted to, but he was also afraid of what Tomas might say, so he puts it off to find the things he didn’t know in all Donna’s five large old books on demonology, or watch Talia faking social media posts about her “family vacation in LA”, there was always an excuse and there can always be one but at this point Marcus was done with the excuses.

  
After breakfast on Monday of their third week at Donna’s house, Marcus asked Tomas to take a walk in the garden with him, it was almost spring and the weather was good outside, Tomas followed Marcus silently and almost mechanically, Marcus found the gazebo where Donna comes to read sometimes and sat down on one of the wooden chairs, Tomas followed his example again, and again it was silently and almost mechanically.

“what happened to you?” Marcus finally said gazing directly into Tomas,

“what do you mean?” Tomas replied blankly,

“what happened to you in the six months I was away, Tomas? Or are you sluggish and depressed for an unrelated reason?”

Tomas took a deep breath and tried to smile as said “it’s nothing Marcus”.

  
It was a lie and Marcus knew it. “Tomas, listen to me. This nothing that turned you from one of the most enthusiastic and energetic people I know, into the person I’m looking at right now, I struggled with my entire life” Marcus looked to his friend’s warm brown eyes and continued “I didn’t talk about what this job has done to me, because I didn’t know how much I needed it, and even if I knew I didn’t think I deserved such help and consideration, but I’m learning now what a load of bullshit that is, and that I would’ve been a better exorcist and a better man if I dealt with it properly”.

  
Tomas was truly astonished and Marcus knew why so he continued “yes, I see the irony in my talking to you about emotional health, I’m not exactly a poster boy for that love, but you’re not me, and you shouldn’t repeat my mistakes in the way you treat yourself”

“it was hard Marcus” Tomas finally said while on the verge of tears “when it was just you and me, I allowed myself to hope that maybe the war one day would be over, things for exorcists will go back to the way they were, with the traveling and the lack of appreciation, but with enough support from the church to make our lives easier, which mean that in this scenario I could go visit my sister and nephew, without getting them hurt or killed”.

  
Tears started streaming down Tomas’s face as he continued “but then, my failure to bring Andy back in time pushed you to do something you couldn’t forgive yourself for”

“Andy wasn’t your fault Tomas” Marcus interrupted

Tomas shook his head and kept going “and the war turned out to be bigger than we thought, and much worse. and Mouse was a good mentor, she taught me, she protected me but she was never my friend, so when we came across a false case that was made up to explain away abusive behavior, or a real case caused by abusive behavior or when we come across a case where the possessed isn’t much better than the demon, I couldn’t just talk to Mouse about how those fucking cases, that make me doubt the whole point of what we do, not like we spoke, I felt so alone Marcuse and I don’t wanna feel that way again”.

  
At this point Tomas was a weeping mess, Marcus moved to sit closer to his friend and took him in his arms, feeling Tomas’s hot breath and tears on his neck brought all the guilt and shame back to Marcus, but he quickly pushed them aside focusing on easing his friend’s pain, Marcus remembered how praying together always brought them both comfort, and how it all started with the prayer of St Francis that night in Tomas’s apartment two years ago. so again he prayed and again Tomas followed until he calmed down and slowly left Marcus’s embrace.

  
“don’t hide things like that from me again” said Marcus looking concerned, Tomas only replied by a nod, he seamed better, lighter in away so he decided to do something he hadn’t done in weeks and go for a run, Marcus knew that this isn’t the end of it, that he needs to talk to Tomas again but it wasn’t the time to push for more, besides the war was still on and Sherman was coming to meet them tomorrow afternoon with important news, also both Talia and Peter are coming here this weekend and Tomas always feels better with both of them here.


	11. 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the conclave is happening and the plan needs to be put in motion and fast

“so the conclave that demon Bennett has been raving about is real?” Mouse asked

“oh, yeah” said Sherman looking just a freaked out now as when he came in an hour ago, the last two glasses of whiskey failed to calm him down, so he poured a third while continuing “in theory, and it’s a good a thing that’s just a theory, if a group of seven or more elder integrated demons gathered in place that used to be sacred but was sacred no more, brought in a living person to be dismembered alive for the summoning, the devil himself will answer and he will be able to call upon any demon he wants to possess permanently any person he wants”.

  
Everybody felt as if the walls of Donna’s study were closing in on them, Tomas begun to hyperventilate so Marcus got up, went to Tomas kneeling next to where he’s sitting, placed his hand on the nap of Tomas’s neck Marcus said trying to sound as calm and reassuring as possible “Tomas, look at me love, focus on my voice” Tomas looked at Marcus as if trying to say something “shhhhhh, it’s alright, look at me Tomas, try to breath with me” Marcus started to inhale deeply through his nose and exhale slowly through the mouth and Tomas started mimic him until he was calm enough to look at everyone around him saying “I’m sorry”.

  
“father Tomas” said Donna “you have done nothing wrong, you just received possibly the worst news of your life, you have every reason to be afraid we all do, and I guess accepting this fear is the best way to move forward” everybody nodded their agreement

Marcus returned to his seat asking Sherman “so do we know when and where this conclave is happening, lands that used to be sacred but are sacred no more is not exactly an address”

“yes Mr Keane we do” Sherman answered more calmly now, careful not cause another panic attack or worse “clearly the lord of lies decided it was about time to see America, the country he’s heard so much about, so his acolytes on earth found a hotel in Missoula, that was built on top of a church, that was built on top of a holy sight to one of the native American tribes, and it has multiple sound proofed conference rooms”.

  
The demons really went overboard to make sure that the place fit the bill is, what everyone was thinking when Sherman said “as for the when, it’s happening next week on Wednesday, the day has no significance as far as anyone could tell, which makes it perfect since it will look like just another bunch of rich guys meeting to talk about money, I already had a contact in Missoula book the conference room right beneath them, and please keep in mind that with such a short notice all I can do in terms of disguise is providing as much fancy formal clothes as possible”.

“good thinking, and don’t worry Sherman surviving in this job sometimes means knowing how to get fake papers fast” said Mouse and after a moment of thinking she looked at Marcus and Tomas and said “it’s up to us now to contact as many of our friends as possible, tell them to get to Montana soon and discreetly” Marcus and Tomas nodded and got up to find their phones on their way out Marcus asked Tomas “how are you feeling?”

“better now” Tomas replied, Marcus didn’t seam convinced but again didn’t want to push so all he said was “whenever you need to talk I’m here” Tomas nodded gratefully and left.


	12. 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the preparations for the big day are afoot, during what could be the last happy weekend in that house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the sex scene is this chapter is made of bits and pieces of m favorite love scenes in this fandom, my knowledge of gay sex is very limited, so put that in mind if you found that this scene came of as weird or unrealistic.

Thanks to Tomas, Marcus and Mouse’s relentless efforts during the couple of days before Friday every active exorcist in the US was now getting ready for the big day, they helped each other get fake IDs and construct convincing backstories, while Sherman’s men in Missoula made sure that at Wednesday they would fill half the rooms in that hotel that weren’t filled with demons, the protection symbol was put on everything from papers to human skin, and now there are five catalysts other than Tomas, and they are to get to the hotel before the demons do, and stay hidden in their rooms till it’s time, the demons will be eating, drinking and talking for an hour before they start the ritualistic dismemberment, which will hopefully be enough time to save the poor soul they choose for that nightmare, the three exorcists researched the fastest routes possible to Missoula and were leaving Saturday after dinner.

  
But as far as the happy residents of Donna Powell’s home for wayward exorcist care, that’s tomorrow’s news, today there’s delicious food, Talia’s news about the new kid in school “when they come in this late into the semester they were either expelled for being bullies, or moved for getting bullied too much, turns out he’s the later so I’m looking out for him”, of course there was Peter, Donna made sure he gets here with Addie safely and there’s Donna herself.

  
It turned out that her father Liam hasn’t been a priest for a while, he quit the second he sniffed the demons for the first time a few years ago, and has been dealing with them on freelance bases ever since, while maintaining a good cover as a computer programmer “he is actually a good programmer and white hat hacker” it also turns out that he and Donna have been dating for a while, but with everything that’s happening and Liam’s connection to it, they both decided to delay his introduction to Talia until things are safe.  
Mouse was all too happy to just relax till the big day came, Tomas seamed better and more like himself, Talia was her energetic and beautiful self trying to make sure everybody is happy. after learning or rather feeling that something was about to happen. and of course Peter, beautiful, solid and kind Peter. He left Addie, who was now back to her affectionate curious self, with Talia and went with Marcus to his room were a flood started.

  
Peter’s joke about distance wasn’t a joke at all, two weeks ago in this room Peter has resurrected a sexual appetite that Marcus has buried along with so many other things for the sake of his work. Back then, which seams so long ago, he allowed his mind to get in the way of so many things, and over the last two weeks he felt the desire and the pressure build up inside of him and touching himself just didn’t cut it.

  
So once the door was shut behind them they were all over each other, like a couple teenagers who wanna do everything they could do before getting caught by the teacher. They kissed hungerly and passionately, during their last phone call they agreed that Marcus will only be in his pajamas and Peter will wear the easiest stuff to take off, so Marcus was fumbling with the buttons and zippers of Peter’s shirt and jeans while Peter’s hands were splayed on Marcus’s back with one of them is oh so close to his butt, all while their kissing and their erections touching through the barrier of their clothes.

  
A naked Peter was touching the hem of Marcus’s pajamas when the latter breathlessly suggested “bed?” Peter answered by gently pushing Marcus till he tumbled down the mattress. Peter quickly finished what he started by removing Marcus’s pajama bottoms and moved to lie next to him, where they kept on kissing more gently this time while Peter’s strong hand now placed on Marcus’s abdomen pushed him gently to the mattress, a move that, as Peter learned weeks ago, Marcus liked so damn much, a fact that made itself known with Marcus’s moaning into Peter’s mouth.

  
Slowly as his mouth parted way from Marcus’s and he gazed at his blue eyes, Peter’s hand moved south and grabbed Marcus’s cock, “oh, fuck” Marcus’s back arched as he cried out, his hands grabbing whatever part of Peter that was close.

“your so beautiful” Peter said

“oh god” Marcus whispered closing his eyes, trying to hide from the compliment as he always does.

“Marcus, look at me” Peter said calmly, and Marcus did because he knew Peter won’t have any other way, looking into Marcus’s eyes while stroking his cock, lavishing him with words like “gorgeous”, “fucking sexy” and “beautiful” then kissing away the screeching noise that Marcus made when he came all over Peter’s hand.

  
After Peter helped Marcus ride out his orgasm, he reached to get some stuff he put in the nightstand drawer when he was here two weeks ago. He looked at Marcus tenderly and said “are you sure you want this?”,

“yes” answered Marcus without hesitation his face showing eagerness and fear “I want you” Peter got up and knelt between Marcus’s splayed leg, squirted some of the lube in his hands and started preparing Marcus.

  
Marcus was holding into the bed sheets for dear life, his muscles were tight, and his body did its best to keep Peter’s finger out, but Peter was determined and eventually Marcus’s hole started to relax when Peter added another finger, pushing deeper and stretching harder until Marcus’s prostate\magic button was found and he started whimpering in pleasure, all that and Peter was watching him, memorizing his reactions as if they’re the most important thing that happened to him.

  
He squirted more lube on his aching hard cock, put on the condom aligned it to Marcus’s hole and looked at his lover for permission, Marcus’s nodded and Peter started to slowly push in, a sop of relief escaped from Marcus’s mouth as if he was still afraid that Peter wouldn’t go all the way. Marcus had his arms around Peter’s neck and Peter locked his gaze to Marcus as he started moving, he started lavishing his praise on Marcus again and not letting him for a second close his eyes or look away, Marcus’s name was on Peter’s lips when came.

  
Easing his way out slowly Peter lay down on the bed and took Marcus in his strong arms, they both knew that Marcus was leaving tomorrow and that there’s no way to know whether he’s coming back, but they didn’t let the fear spoil this perfect moment, Marcus lied down next to Peter, his hands on Peters chest feeling his heartbeat as he slowly drifted into sleep.


	13. 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the last day before the exorcists departure

Saturday 4 am  
Talia was dreaming of the last scene in the movie Logan, except that instead of Laura standing over the grave of Wolverine, it was her standing over Marcus’s grave, she woke up with a start and immediately turned the bedside lamp on and reached for the rosary, she stared at the sharp strangely designed crucifix for a few minutes, then started talking as if someone on the other side was listening “I don’t know who you are, or how you effected my dad’s life so much, put please if you’re listening to me, look after him, I don’t wanna lose him”.

  
7 am  
breakfast was as lively and loud as it was over the last three weeks, but still the tension that hung over them like a dark cloud was clear and hard to ignore.

  
10 am  
_Tomas is not okay again and again he’s not talking to me_ Marcus noted, as Tomas hasn’t left his room since he retreated to it after breakfast, what worries him more that Donna told him that Tomas asked her for something to help him sleep.

  
5 pm  
the bags were packed, the fake IDs were here as well as the very real passes to the fake tech conference, since Marcus learned that his daughter’s favorite drink is hot chocolate, “you’re never too old for it” she said, he vowed to give her the full five o’clock tea experience, Donna was very helpful and in no time the study had a nice china tea set and an array of very British baked goods.

  
7 pm  
Marcus was surprised at the shift in Tomas’s mode, he insisted in making dinner himself, his abuelita’s tamales recipe that he now has all the right ingredients for, he set the table himself, poured everyone water, “we’re not teasing Talia by drinking bear in front of her” he said knowing that a sip of bear here and a whiff of pot there wasn't exactly beyond Talia, everybody’s bags we already packed and loaded in a nice mini-van that waited for them outside.

  
7:30 pm  
Marcus is feeling dizzy, the world is going out focus, “dad, are you alright?” Talia called from across the room, everybody looked at Marcus with concern except Tomas, he looked at his friend and mentor and said “I’m sorry”, he gave Peter an envelop to give to Marcus when he comes through, then he walked out promising Mouse an explanation later, he unloaded Marcus’s bag and drove away with Mouse.

  
\---------------------------------------------------------

_Dear Marcus_, read Tomas’s letter

  
_my friend, my mentor, the brother I never had,_

  
_when I heard that God in all his wisdom talked to you and called you back to the fight, I was so happy to have you by my side to end this wretched war, but then something happened._

  
_That day in the gazebo, after I talked to you then went for a run, my mind got clearer and I was hit by a realization that was staring me in the face all those weeks, but I was so foggy and depressed to notice it, and that is, while God indeed brought you back to play your part in this war, he also brought you to Talia and Peter._

  
_The daughter that you didn’t get to be there for her from the minute she kicked inside Donna’s womb for the first time, and until her conformation. and the wonderful, kind, strong man who offered you his love freely._

  
_Your bond with Talia reminded me of Olivia and Luis, and of how I want to end this war for their safety ,but also survive it for the sake of their happiness and our family. thinking of your chances of getting discovered and killed made me frightened and horrified, and we both know by now my friend that talking to you about it wasn’t gonna do much. you, Marcus Keane, are the single most amazingly stubborn man I know._

  
_I think God didn’t intend for your rule in this war to extend beyond what you did these last few weeks. I think that this is an end for you my friend, and also a beginning. an end to all that suffering and pain that you carry for others as well as yourself, and beginning to something beautiful and pure that you deserve._

  
_So please for the love of God and for Talia’s sake, accept God’s wisdom in the end and open yourself up to the beginning._

  
_You can hate me for doing what I did, be angry with me for as long as you need but know that I will always be here for you, whenever you need me. and that I will always be you most loyal friend._

  
_Tomas_.


	14. Epilogue

four months later

  
Peter smiled when his partner walked through the door of his house saying “welcome home” Marcus went to where Peter was standing by the kitchen counter and kissed him  
like he hadn’t seen him in a while.

“glad to be home” came out of Marcus so naturally as if he lived his entire life in nice family homes like this, he sat of one of the wooden chairs in the kitchen and said “not that I’m complaining, but I expected Talia to be here and you to be in the airport picking your daughter and where is the dog”

“your daughter wanted to use her newly found freedom as an official carrier of a driver’s license, so she took Addie and the car to airport to meet Helen.” Peter chuckled if “you ask me, it was a good decision, this way they get the chance to share opinions about George Orwell, the effects of the overuse of CGI on the modern movie industry and our relationship in private”.

  
Marcus laughed at that last sentence while pretending to be horrified, “so, how’s Chicago?” Peter asked putting a steaming mug in his partner’s hand while sitting next to him with his own cup of coffee in hand.

“it was good, Tomas’s return as a parish priest was natural, and his family seamed fine” answered Marcus as casually as he could, Peter gazed at him saying

“out with it, babe” Marcus looked at Peter’s eyes and smiled _to have someone who understand you so much can be a real blessing from the Lord_ he eventually said “I saw Bennett”.

  
Peter swallowed, although he knew the person he met wasn’t really father Devon Bennett the memory of his captivity was still a hard one, “he’s back to his smug old self” said Marcus with obvious relief “and he, on behalf of Rome, offered me a position as an instructor”

“you mean for exorcists?” Peter asked

“yes” Marcus replied “the new materials provided after what happened in Missoula require experts to understand it and teach it, Bennett thinks I’m qualified and he really tried to make a good case for this job”

“and what did you say?” Peter asked

“I said I’d think about it” Peter wanted to scream at Marcus for even considering it to remind him of how many times the official church, that was now making that generous offer, has wronged him, he wanted to remind Marcus that he’s already set to take a job as a Latin in teacher in a high school, and that his life now is good and that it should remain good, and a far cry from the demon tainted madness his old job was.

  
What stopped Peter from doing that was the knowledge that this kind of violent reaction, even if it was only by words, is what made Marcus the damaged, closed off person he first met almost a year ago and that gentleness was what got him to open up. So Peter took a couple of deep breaths and choose his words carefully “Marcus, you can rely on my full support in any decision you make regarding what job you choose to take, and you can also rely on my honesty to tell you what I think of your decision” Peter paused to steady himself “will I support you if you took this job offer? Absolutely, but I will always know that it’s a bad decision for you”

at this moments Marcus wanted to kiss Peter so hard, but he had to file this thought away for a later time when he heard his daughter pulling over in the driveway so he settled for “thank you”.

The end


End file.
